Bill Mata to make first start in nine months for Edinburgh

Fijian forward Bill Mata will make his first start in nine months when Edinburgh open their BKT United Rugby Championship season against the Dragons in the Scottish capital on Saturday night.

The number eight returned from a knee injury off the bench during last weekend’s pre-season friendly defeat by Benetton in Treviso.

Summer signing Sam Skinner could make his debut as a replacement. The former Exeter lock is named on an experienced bench which features a further seven Scotland internationals who have made a combined 652 appearances for Edinburgh.

Bernard Foley gives his take on what exactly happened in Australia vs New Zealand

Video Player is loading.

Play Video

PauseSkip BackwardSkip Forward

Unmute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 0:00

Loaded: 0%

0:00

Stream Type LIVE

Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE

Remaining Time -0:00

 

1x

Playback Rate

Chapters

• Chapters

Descriptions

• descriptions off, selected

Captions

• captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
• captions off, selected

Audio Track

Fullscreen

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

Text

ColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-Transparent

Text Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent

Caption Area Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

Font Size

50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%

Text Edge Style

NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop shadow

Font Family

Proportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

ResetDone

Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

Bernard Foley gives his take on what exactly happened in Australia vs New Zealand

Head Coach Mike Blair said: “The squad have all put in the hard yards throughout pre-season, gearing up for round one of the competition, and now it’s time to represent the city and show what it means to play for this great club.

“We know Dragons will travel north with confidence. They’ve made some savvy signings over the summer and have restructured their coaching team – they’ll feel rejuvenated as a squad, so we need be focussed and ready to take them on from the first whistle.

“The season opener is always exciting for everyone – players, staff, sponsors and supporters. It’s a chance to get your journey off to the best possible start, and that’s what we intend to do on Saturday night.”

Wes Goosen, Jake Henry and Mesu Kunavula are the only players who are not available for Blair.

EDINBURGH TEAM:
15. Henry Immelman
14. Darcy Graham
13. Mark Bennett
12. Chris Dean
11. Damien Hoyland
10. Charlie Savala
9. Ben Vellacott
1. Boan Venter
2. Dave Cherry
3. Angus Williams
4. Marshall Sykes
5. Glen Young
6. Jamie Ritchie CAPTAIN
7. Luke Crosbie
8. Viliame Mata

REPLACEMENTS:
16. Stuart McInally
17. Pierre Schoeman
18. WP Nel
19. Sam Skinner
20. Nick Haining
21. Henry Pyrgos
22. Blair Kinghorn
23. James Lang